hing decorated the building, or softened its sharp, square corners. The river that had meandered around the treadmill came near one corner of the building, though it was narrower there. As I watched, a warden escorted a middle-aged man inside. The man was holding his side as if in pain and didn't look particularly happy about going to the building. Minutes later, only the warden went out. Perhaps the building was a sort of resting place for the sickest ones or those closest to death.
I was so intent on studying the building that I failed to notice someone had entered the fenced yard beneath me. I might not have noticed, in fact, if the intruder had not tripped in the lower light of evening.
At first I couldn't see who it was because the cage didn't allow me to change positions enough to look down. But I recognized the voice immediately.
"This is your own fault, you know." It was Della, come to gloat. "You could have avoided all this trouble."
"Are you sure of that?" I called to her. "Because I tried my best to avoid you, and it didn't work."
Her voice rose in pitch. "The problem with grubs is you don't know your place. Well, now you do."
"Has your father come for you yet?" I asked. "Didn't you say he'd be here to get you? Or what about your friend Jonas? Is he still here? Maybe he heard you were coming and dove into the sea to escape you."
There was a long pause, so I knew I'd hit a nerve. Finally, she said, "This is only our first day here. I'll find Jonas soon. And my father will probably come tomorrow."
If her father came, it'd only be after he also tested positive for the Scourge. I had a feeling that the governor would love any excuse to send Sir Willoughby away from Keldan. Besides, if Della had the disease, her father probably did too.
Which led me to another thought, of whether I should expect to see my family here soon. If Della could spread it to her family, then I could've spread it to mine. And if they pulled in my family, then the wardens would start to look at who my parents had associated with over the last few weeks, and bring them in as well. Della had already warned of this. My name would become known as the girl who destroyed the River People. As the one who did far more damage to them than the governor and her wardens ever could.
"Did you come here expecting that I would apologize?" I asked. "If so, then I'm glad because I do need to tell you how sorry I am. I'm sorry I tried to help you the other night. I'm sorry you got back in our boat after I dumped you out of it. And I'm sorry you came all this way to see me, because it was for nothing."
She chuckled. "I wouldn't forgive you, even if you gave me a real apology. Because if I forgave you, then I'd feel bad about getting my revenge."
"More revenge?" I asked. "I'm already in this cage, so if I deserved any punishment, I'm getting it. And what happened was your fault anyway."
"As you say, the wardens are already punishing you for dumping me into the water. But you do need to learn some respect for who I am."
"Really?" I said. "Because I think I understand you far too well."
"I have a special status in Keldan. My father is--"
"We're not in Keldan anymore. We're in the Scourge Colony. And here, you are alone, just like me. You have a terrible disease, just like me. And this disease will probably kill you."
"Just like you?" she asked.
I smiled down at her. "No, that won't be at all like me. I intend to recover."
"Nobody recovers from the Scourge."
"What if it's true, that my people started the Scourge three hundred years ago? We didn't die from it then, and we won't die from it now!"
"It's a different disease now," Della said. "My father told me that the symptoms are so much worse than what are in the old records. And you have no medicine this time."
"Yes, I do."
Or did I? Suddenly, I understood why Della had come.
I twisted around enough to look down and saw her pouring the medicine out of my flask and into another flask. She must've stolen it, because hers was somewhere in the not-so-shallow part of the Scuttle Sea.
"Where'd you get that flask, Della?"
She shrugged indifferently. "An old woman in the room next to mine is getting very sick. It's only a matter of time. I took her flask before someone else did."
"Was there any medicine in it?"
"A little, but I need more."
"There's a shortage! You should save as much as you can."